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Pet-friendly shelter helps homeless maintain ‘lifeline’

Space is precious at Fred Victor Bethlehem United Shelter, the only emergency homeless shelter that allows animals.

Emelio McMaster, 21 shares a room with 3 other homeless men and their animals. Pictured with his dog Dakota, a black Rottweiler and a room mates dog, Buddy, a brown Rottweiler and bull dog mix. (Chris So / Toronto Star) | Order this photo

Emelio McMaster would rather sleep on the streets than give up his Rottweiler, Dakota. Luckily, that’s a choice the homeless 21-year-old hasn’t had to make.

He and his rotty share a room with four men and another dog called Buddy at the Fred Victor Centre-Bethlehem UnitedShelter, the only pet-friendly homeless emergency shelter in Toronto. The centre in an industrial area on Caledonia Road in North York has 70 beds and room for 15 animals: cats, dogs, and rabbits.

Rottweilers have a reputation for being vicious, but McMaster’s dog Dakota breaks the stereotype. She’s been a good friend to him since he left home after fighting with his family in Ajax a month ago, he said.

“She’s a loving girl,” he said. “I’ll be on the bed and I’ll be depressed, crying sometimes because of family problems, and she’ll look at me and come up right beside me.”

Pet-friendly homeless shelters appear to be in high demand in Toronto. Danielle Ashby, the Caledonia shelter’s manager, says she gets 25 calls a day most winters from people looking for a place to stay with their pet. From October to December, the shelter was running above capacity, she said.

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Some relief may be on the way. Last year, city council decided that room for pets is a priority in the emergency shelter system. Sprott House, the new LGBTQ homeless shelter in the Annex, will take pets soon, said Patricia Anderson, a spokeswoman for the city’s Shelter, Support and Housing Administration Division. All Toronto shelters welcome service dogs, and all five of the city’s 24-hour drop-ins take pets.

Other cities, including New York, don’t allow animals — except service dogs — in shelters due to health and safety concerns.

It’s hard to say how many homeless people have pets, but according to surveys cited in a paper by Ottawa veterinarian Michelle Lem, the number might be about one in 10. In the U.S., the number may be as high as one in four, according to a 2014 study by researchers at the University of Southern California.

“These animals are often their only source of companionship, and the only vehicle through which they experience unconditional love and no judgment,” said Lem.

In 2003, she founded a mobile free clinic where homeless people can take their pet for a check-up or de-worming. Community Veterinary Outreach operates free clinics five or six times a year in Ottawa, Toronto, Kitchener, Guelph and Hamilton.

While a cat or dog gets treatment, volunteers are often able to persuade their owner to see a doctor or get other kinds of help on site if necessary, Lem said.

Almost all the pets she has seen over the years have been in good shape because their owners often put their animal’s health before their own, she said.

McMaster said he spends most of the money he makes panhandling to treat Dakota to a can of wet dog food from Dollarama to go with the kibble provided by the shelter.

If all goes to plan, he and Dakota won’t be homeless much longer. He hopes to land a factory job and find an apartment with his roommate at the shelter, Buddy’s owner. One day, he wants to go to veterinary school, he said.

“I love animals.”

Emelio and Dakota

Strangers “freak out” when Dakota barks at them, Emelio McMaster said, but they realize she’s friendly as soon as they see her wag her tail and roll onto her back.

“People look at rotties and think they’re vicious and all that, but it’s the way you raise the dog that affects how they turn out later in life,” he said.

They had to spend some time apart after he left his family home. “You should’ve seen her when I came back and she saw me. I swear she was actually crying,” he said.

Joe and Sarah

Joe Marshall, a.k.a. Bear, was an iron and steel worker before he fell on hard times, he said. He has been caring for Sarah for six years. He acquired her from a little girl in Toronto who's a friend of his nephew, he said. (Chris So)

Marshall says he hasn't touched alcohol or drugs or gotten into any trouble with the law since he started caring for his dog Sarah. He asked a friend to tattoo Sarah's paw print and those of his late dog Buddy and their offspring Little Bear on his left forearm. (Geoffrey Vendeville)

Joe Marshall, 45, who goes by his aboriginal name “Bear,” has had his wolf-malamute-lab mix Sarah since she was a puppy. Her paw print and those of two other dogs he had are tattooed to his left forearm. He suffers from PTSD after being abused as a child and has been in and out of jail, he said.

“I went through a lot of hard times, man,” he said. “If it wasn’t for her dragging me out, I could see myself back in.”

Tara and Jax

Tara with her dog Jax look at an overhead plane passing over the courtyard of the Fred Victor mission. (Chris So)

Tara, who didn’t want her full name published, took Jax under her wing after he was abandoned by a neighbour. Her little “hyper happy” Jack Russell-boxer mix has been a lifeline to her, she said.

If there were no rooms in a pet-friendly shelter, she would choose Jax over sleeping in a warm bed, she said. “I’m not going to abandon him like his previous owners. I know the feeling of abandonment,” she said.

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